Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey

Work Experience of the Population (Annual) News Release

Technical information: (202) 691-6378 USDL 08-1803
http://www.bls.gov/cps/
For release: 10:00 A.M. (EST)
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Wednesday, December 10, 2008
WORK EXPERIENCE OF THE POPULATION IN 2007
A total of 157.7 million persons worked at some point during 2007, the
Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.
The proportion of workers who worked full time, year round in 2007 was
68.4 percent, the same as in 2006. The number of persons who experienced
some unemployment increased by 693,000, to 15.1 million.
These data are based on information collected in the Annual Social
and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS).
The CPS is a monthly survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for
the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The ASEC collects information on em-
ployment and unemployment experienced during the prior calendar year.
Additional information about the CPS and the ASEC, including concepts
and definitions, is provided in the Technical Note. Highlights from
the 2007 data include:
--The proportion of the civilian noninstitutional population age 16
years and over who worked at some time during 2007 was 67.7 percent,
essentially unchanged from 2006.
--The proportion of workers who worked full time, year round in 2007
was 68.4 percent, the same as in the prior year.
--The "work-experience unemployment rate"--defined as the number unem-
ployed at some time during the year as a proportion of the number
who worked or looked for work during the year--was 9.5 percent in
2007, up from 9.1 percent in 2006.
Persons with Employment
The percent of men who worked during 2007 was 74.1 percent, down
slightly from 74.4 percent in 2006. The proportion of women who worked
at some point during 2007 held at 61.6 percent. (See table 1.)
The proportions of whites (68.3 percent), blacks (63.5 percent), and
Asians (67.8 percent) who worked at some time during the year were essen-
tially unchanged in 2007. The proportion of Hispanics who worked at some
point during 2007 (68.5 percent) was down from 2006 (69.1 percent). (See
table 2.)
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Among those with work experience during 2007, 78.2 percent were em-
ployed year round (working 50 to 52 weeks, either full or part time),
little changed from 2006. The percentage of women working year round
rose 0.9 percentage point to 75.7 percent in 2007, and the percentage
of men employed year round edged down 0.4 percentage point to 80.5 per-
cent. (See table 1.)
Of those employed at some time during 2007, 80.9 percent usually
worked full time, the same share as in 2006. Men were more likely to
work full time during the year (87.4 percent) than were women (73.6 per-
cent), but the gap narrowed in 2007. The incidence of men working full
time declined by 0.4 percentage point while the incidence of women work-
ing full time increased by 0.6 percentage point.
Persons with Unemployment
About 159.8 million persons worked or looked for work at some time
in 2007. Of those, 15.1 million experienced some unemployment during
the year, up from 14.4 million in 2006. Men accounted for the major-
ity of the over-the-year increase in unemployment. (See table 3.)
At 9.5 percent in 2007, the "work-experience unemployment rate"
(those looking for work during the year as a percent of those who
worked or looked for work during the year) was 0.4 percentage point
higher than in 2006. The 2007 rate is relatively low by historical
standards, but is above the series low of 8.6 percent reached in 2000.
The rates for Hispanics (12.3 percent) and whites (9.0 percent) rose
in 2007, while the rates for blacks (12.7 percent) and Asians (6.9
percent) were little changed. (See tables 3 and 4.)
Overall, men continued to have higher "work-experience unemployment
rates" in 2007 than did women, 10.3 versus 8.6 percent, respectively.
Among whites, the rate for men (9.9 percent) was higher than that for
women (8.0 percent). This also was the case among blacks (13.9 and 11.6
percent, respectively) and Hispanics (13.0 and 11.3 percent, respectively.)
The rates for Asian men (7.0 percent) and women (6.8 percent) were little
different.
Among those who experienced unemployment in 2007, the median number
of weeks spent looking for work was 13.8, unchanged from the prior
year. About 2.1 million individuals looked for a job but did not work
at all in 2007, up from 1.9 million in 2006. Of the 13.0 million per-
sons who worked during 2007 and also experienced unemployment, 23.8 per-
cent had 2 or more spells of joblessness, little different than the
share in 2006.

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Technical Note
The data presented in this release were collected in the Annual Social
and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is
a monthly sample survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau
of Labor Statistics. Data from the CPS are used to obtain the monthly
estimates of the nation's employment and unemployment levels. The supple-
ment, conducted in the months of February through April, includes questions
about work activity during the prior calendar year. For instance, data col-
lected in 2008 refer to the 2007 calendar year. Because the reference period
is a full year, the number of persons with some employment or unemployment
greatly exceeds the average levels for any given month, which are based on
a 1-week reference period, and the corresponding annual average of the monthly
estimates. As shown below, for example, the number experiencing any unemploy-
ment during 2007 was about twice the number unemployed in an average month
during the year.
Employed Unemployed
2007 estimates (in thousands)
Annual average of
monthly estimates 146,047 7,078
Annual supplement data 157,653 15,117
In addition, estimates from the supplement differ from those obtained
in the basic CPS because the questions used to classify workers as either
employed or unemployed are different. More important, perhaps, is that
fewer questions by which to categorize respondents are asked in the sup-
plement. In regard to unemployment in particular, the supplement has no
questions on the type of job search activity or on the respondent's avail-
ability to work. Also, individuals can be counted as both employed and
unemployed in the work experience data, whereas, for a specific reference
week, each person is only counted in one category and employment activity
takes precedence over job search activity.
Work experience data for 2007, which were collected in the 2008 Annual
Social and Economic Supplement to the CPS, are not strictly comparable with
data for 2006 and earlier years because of the introduction in January 2008
of revised population controls used in the CPS. The effect of the revised
population controls on the work experience estimates is unknown. However,
the effect of the new controls on the monthly CPS estimates was to decrease
the December 2007 employment level by 598,000 and the unemployment level by
40,000. For additional information, see "Adjustments to Household Survey
Population Estimates in January 2008," available on the Internet at http://
www.bls.gov/cps/cps08adj.pdf.
Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired
individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; TDD message referral
phone: 1-800-877-8339.
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Reliability of the estimates
Statistics based on the CPS are subject to both sampling and nonsampling
error. When a sample, rather than the entire population, is surveyed, there
is a chance that the sample estimates may differ from the "true" population
values they represent. The exact difference, or sampling error, varies de-
pending on the particular sample selected, and this variability is measured
by the standard error of the estimate. There is about a 90-percent chance,
or level of confidence, that an estimate based on a sample will differ by no
more than 1.6 standard errors from the "true" population value because of
sampling error. BLS analyses are generally conducted at the 90-percent level
of confidence.
The CPS data also are affected by nonsampling error. Nonsampling error
can occur for many reasons, including the failure to sample a segment of the
population, inability to obtain information for all respondents in the sample,
inability or unwillingness of respondents to provide correct information, and
errors made in the collection or processing of the data.
For a full discussion of the reliability of data from the CPS and informa-
tion on estimating standard errors, see "Reliability of estimates from
the CPS" available on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.
htm#reliability.
Concepts and definitions
Persons who worked. In the 2008 supplement, persons are considered to have
worked if they responded "yes" to either the question "Did you work at a job
or business at any time during 2007?" or "Did you do any temporary, part-time,
or seasonal work even for a few days during 2007?"
Unemployed persons. Persons who worked during the year but not in every
week are counted as unemployed if they also reported looking for work or
being on layoff from a job during the year. Those who reported no work
activity during the year are considered unemployed if they responded "yes"
to the question "Even though you did not work in 2007, did you spend any
time trying to find a job or on layoff?"
Labor force participants. Persons who either worked or were unemployed
during the year.
Usual full- and part-time employment. These data refer to the number of
hours a worker typically works during most weeks of the year. Workers are
classified as full time if they usually worked 35 hours or more in a week;
part-time employment refers to workers whose typical workweek was between
1 and 34 hours.
Year-round and part-year employment. Workers are classified as year round
if they worked 50 to 52 weeks. Part-year employment refers to workers who
worked fewer than 50 weeks.